Duke MBB vs. MD postgame thread

[77devil]

Post your thoughts here.

[Ben63]

Great game tonight. We have improved on FT% but if we have shown we cant win w/o the 3ball. When we got cold from beyond UMD made a run and got very close. Scheyer hit the 3 and we were in control again. A cold shooting night scares me especially against a good team.

Overall a good, but not great, performance tonight.

[wilson]

Great first half on both ends of the court, mediocre second half...some good moments in the last 8 minutes or so, but was that a nonslaught I saw? And I agree that we need to hit threes to win. A cold shooting night will do this team in in the tournament.
That said, this might be my favorite Duke team ever. I've been watching for 20+ years now, and I can't remember another one that absolutely plays its butts off all the time like this one does. It's really a thrill to watch.

[dukestheheat]

Great game tonight. We have improved on FT% but if we have shown we cant win w/o the 3ball. When we got cold from beyond UMD made a run and got very close. Scheyer hit the 3 and we were in control again. A cold shooting night scares me especially against a good team.

Overall a good, but not great, performance tonight.

So, we had the huge lead and we were moving well and spacing, but then we stopped scoring and let Maryland back into the game. When it went to two points, Duke stiffened its collective back and pulled away, which is a sign of maturity and resilience and I am so proud of this team.

But, analyze that stretch whereby we looked totally terrible and we were soundly outplayed.

What went wrong? I say we went much more to quick shots and one-on-one versus the usual space, drive and kick. This indeed will be used by K as a 'teachable moment' with the film and Duke will learn from that complete dry spell.

dth.

[loran16]

So, we had the huge lead and we were moving well and spacing, but then we stopped scoring and let Maryland back into the game. When it went to two points, Duke stiffened its collective back and pulled away, which is a sign of maturity and resilience and I am so proud of this team.

But, analyze that stretch whereby we looked totally terrible and we were soundly outplayed.

What went wrong? I say we went much more to quick shots and one-on-one versus the usual space, drive and kick. This indeed will be used by K as a 'teachable moment' with the film and Duke will learn from that complete dry spell.

dth.

The problem was we would drive, turnover the ball rather than kick it out.

Gerald looked really weak tonight, i think the injury is still bothering him.

[DevilDad]

Just got off the phone with my son. A couple of great signs he said they had: "Fear the Classroom" (ref. to Maryland`s poor grad. rate), "If you can read this Gary Williams did not recruit you".

[mapei]

We get so much UMCP hype here in the DC area - it is great to get a win - indeed, two in a row and three of four - against Maryland. Maybe people will start cooling it about how Gary has our number which, admittedly, he did for a while.

I love the quickness of our team, getting rebounds against those big guys and making deflections and steals. It's true that we live/die by the 3, but that just adds to the excitement and I do believe it's working!

Vasquez is impressive, as is Osby. Relatively quiet game from Gist.

MOTMs: Greg, Kyle
key additional contributors: Jon, Lance
glue: Dave
invisible at key points: Gerald, DeMarcus
relatively insignificant tonight: Nolan, Taylor, Brian

Hey, that's 10 players! I thought K didn't use his bench?

[The1Bluedevil]

Maryland has the #1 fg defense in the league so they deserve some credit.

[wilson]

Maryland has the #1 fg defense in the league so they deserve some credit.

Yes. Defense by both teams, especially in the first half, was outstanding tonight.

[dkbaseball]

I'm getting a little weary of the conventional wisdom in talking head land that Duke must inevitably have a night when the threes aren't falling, and thus can't be seen as a favorite for the NC. Have they not noticed that Duke has six guys who are good to excellent three-point shooters (and I'm not including Gerald, who can knock them down occasionally)? On any given night there are going to be at least a couple of them knocking 'em down, and this Duke team seems to be pretty good at making in-game adjustments to find the hot hand. I can't remember any college team that ever had this much shooting depth.

That said, I'm a bit uncomfortable seeing bench minutes decline, even though the top six are competing superbly. If you do need to put a Smith or a King in for an offensive spark (assuming the top six are cold on three-pointers), you want those guys coming in fully confident in themselves.

[weezie]

We get so much UMCP hype here in the DC area - it is great to get a win - indeed, two in a row and three of four - against Maryland.

There will be much gnashing of teeth from Jimbo Vance on channel four tonight!

[dukelifer]

Duke had a cold spell but closed it out like a professional team. Singler again looked like Battier at the end of 2001- making threes- getting tough rebounds- and keeping everyone calm. Paulus is really playing well. Yes he is shooting the ball with confidence- but he looks so much quicker with the ball. He is handling and passing so much better these days. Henderson is having problems with the wrist. K said in the pregame interview that he will likely have a sore wrist the rest of the season and it may not be 100%. He will need to pick his spots and likely Singler and Scheyer will need to do more. Scheyer also played well down the stretch. As for Maryland- they played hard and Vasquez showed a lot tonight- but Gist was kept under control for most of the game. A great win by Duke. Duke has a lot of road games coming up. So they will need to continue to be mentally tough. But this was a big win against a pretty hot team.

[buzz]

Props to Lance for making a game-changing block at 57-55. His offense was weaker tonight than in recent games, but the momentum shifted significantly after that play. Singler made his sweet baseline drive right after that - ownage!

[wilson]

I'm getting a little weary of the conventional wisdom in talking head land that Duke must inevitably have a night when the threes aren't falling, and thus can't be seen as a favorite for the NC. Have they not noticed that Duke has six guys who are good to excellent three-point shooters (and I'm not including Gerald, who can knock them down occasionally)? On any given night there are going to be at least a couple of them knocking 'em down, and this Duke team seems to be pretty good at making in-game adjustments to find the hot hand. I can't remember any college team that ever had this much shooting depth.

That said, I'm a bit uncomfortable seeing bench minutes decline, even though the top six are competing superbly. If you do need to put a Smith or a King in for an offensive spark (assuming the top six are cold on three-pointers), you want those guys coming in fully confident in themselves.

Very good points. You're exactly right about the shooting depth, and I'll admit that I forget about that from time to time. As for bench depth, I agree that it's a bit disconcerting, but I thought Scheyer had quite a good game tonight...I don't think "coming in cold" is really a problem for him these days. Good minutes from Zoubs and McClure too.

[gofurman]

We get so much UMCP hype here in the DC area - it is great to get a win - indeed, two in a row and three of four - against Maryland. Maybe people will start cooling it about how Gary has our number which, admittedly, he did for a while.

I love the quickness of our team, getting rebounds against those big guys and making deflections and steals. It's true that we live/die by the 3, but that just adds to the excitement and I do believe it's working!

Vasquez is impressive, as is Osby. Relatively quiet game from Gist.

MOTMs: Greg, Kyle
key additional contributors: Jon, Lance
glue: Dave
invisible at key points: Gerald, DeMarcusrelatively insignificant tonight: Nolan, Taylor, Brian

Hey, that's 10 players! I thought K didn't use his bench?

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

[wilson]

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

You're right; Gerald and DeMarcus were not at the top of their game tonight. Just another example of a) this team's offensive balance, and b) its defensive prowess, imo.

[12_2bretired]

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

It seems that Henderson was really struggling with the wrist tonight and couldnt get anything going.

As far as Nelson goes, every time he drove the lane Maryland shifted help and really closed in on him. This led to all the spinning in the lane that he tried all night.

I think it was a combination of off nights and good defense by the Terps.

[SNewman 92]

1) I despise Gary Williams and a significant part of the Twerps' fans, though I have to say that with the exception of Vasquez, it's hard to dislike this team very much (and even Vasquez is a remarkable player).

2) We are now 10-0 in the ACC; I certainly wouldn't have predicted that at the start of the season.

3) The nonslaught we suffered in the second half may well have been fatal last year. This year, we have better ball movement, penetration, chemistry, and resilience.

4) We largely neutralized Gist--who scares me--and kept Osby from having a huge game. Indeed, our defense was excellent throughout, and this against a team on a hot streak.

This really has been a season to savor, and I'm optimistic about what's coming.

[SMO]

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

Vitale kept mentioning that Gary Williams stressed to his team to not let Paulus and Singler drain 3's, but it looked more like what you describe. They seemed to want to cut off drives before they get to the paint and that left Singler open a lot, as well as Paulus.

[OldSchool]

It was great to see big Z getting a few minutes against Maryland's post players.

When he played within himself on the defensive end, it really made a difference against Maryland in the paint.

What I wish Z would do when he is caught on a switch out on the perimeter, is after showing the hedge pull back a step or two toward the basket. He is 7-frickin' feet, make the opposing player try to shoot over him rather than trying to play so close that the smaller, quicker guard can easily drive around him.

On the offensive end, they're clearly not comfortable trying to feed him down low yet, he needs to work himself back into the flow before that will come.